Cheques are known in the art.
As is known, in order to obtain a very high security level upon reading, decoding and certifying cheques 3 (FIG. 1) and to avoid frauds, micro-perforated characters or symbols (patterns) 5 are provided therein in addition to characters or symbols (patterns) graphically 6 or magnetically 7 imprinted on one or both sides of the cheque. The micro-perforated characters, for instance, are made of through micro-holes having a diameter, in general, lower than 0.254 mm, so that a reading resolution arranged to recognize the through micro-holes is required.
As is also known, the micro-perforated characters need to be read, decoded and compared with the imprinted characters so that only at the end of the above process, if the micro-perforated characters correspond to the imprinted characters, the cheque is considered to be valid.
The above process needs to be very reliable and fast. Therefore, a device arranged to implement the above process needs to be very simple and effective.
As known, apparatuses are known for acquiring documents including graphical and/or magnetic imprinted patterns.
For instance from publication WO2006/005560 an apparatus or device is known arranged for reading, decoding and certifying documents comprising graphical and/or magnetic patterns.
Such a device cannot manage micro-perforated patterns and therefore cannot solve the problem of managing graphical and/or magnetic patterns and micro-perforated patterns.
Moreover the above problem requires to be solved in a simple and effective way by, possibly, integrate the solution in a single device.
In general, the Applicant has found that the problem of having a single apparatus or device intended to manage both graphical and/or magnetic patterns and micro-perforated patterns is not satisfied.